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The nature and severity of distress among rehabilitation hospital patients

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International Journal of Rehabilitation and Health

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to assess the nature and severity of psychological symptoms of distress as reported by patients in a rehabilitation setting. We used the Symptom Checklist 90—Revised (SCL-90-R) to differentiate between levels of distress among our sample of 104 rehabilitation patients and the norms for adult psychiatric and normal populations. The study also attempted to determine if the levels of distress differed among four diagnostic groups (amputees,n=21; brain injury,n=23; cerebrovascular accident group,n=24; and mixed diagnostic group,n=36). Results indicated that our sample differed significantly in the anticipated direction from nonpatient and outpatient psychiatric norms. Our findings did not support the use of the SCL-90-R as a single-criterion screening device. However, our findings confirmed that the SCL-90-R has considerable utility in rehabilitation settings as a research instrument for measuring group differences.

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Brackstone, M.J., Delehanty, R., Mann, B. et al. The nature and severity of distress among rehabilitation hospital patients. Int J Rehab Health 1, 37–48 (1995). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02214960

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